How is this different from Day One or Journey?

Day One and Journey are good journaling apps built around their own clouds and accounts; Day One includes end-to-end encryption on every plan. Dash starts from the other end. There is no account, nothing leaves your device unless you turn sync on, any entry can be locked with AES-256, and the Mac app is $14.99 once. If you do want sync, it is optional and end-to-end encrypted.

Can I add photos to my journal entries?

Yes. Add images inline, or attach photos (JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP) and PDFs to any entry from the block menu or by drag-and-drop, up to 10 MB per file. Attachments are stored on your device with the entry.

What if I want to journal on more than one device?

Turn on Dash Sync and the journal stays in step across Mac, iPhone, iPad and the web, encrypted on your device before upload so the relay only ever holds ciphertext. Or keep it fully offline and move entries with an encrypted .dashpack export. You decide when and how the journal moves.

Can my partner or therapist read my journal?

Not without your password. A locked entry is encrypted with AES-256-GCM and only opens with the password you set, or with Touch ID or Face ID on your own device. Lock the whole app as well and it locks itself after a few minutes away.

What happens if I forget my encryption password?

A locked entry cannot be recovered without its password. There is no backdoor, which is the point. Keep the password in a password manager and make encrypted backups.

Is journaling in Dash good for mental health?

Journaling is widely used to process emotions, notice patterns and settle a busy mind, and it works best when you can be completely honest on the page. A diary that nobody else can open makes that honesty easier.

Dash Notes

Free on iPhone

Encrypted diary

An Encrypted Diary and Journal App That Stays Yours

Entries locked with AES-256 on your own Mac or iPhone. No account, offline by default, and sync only if you ask for it.

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Updated September 2026 · Dash team

A diary is the one thing you write that is meant for nobody. Most journal apps still route it through a company: an account to open, a cloud to sync to, a subscription to keep the door open. Some of them encrypt it well. None of them can match a diary that never leaves your device in the first place.

Dash is an encrypted diary in that older sense. Entries are pages on your Mac or iPhone. Lock an entry and it is encrypted with AES-256-GCM; open it with your password, Touch ID or Face ID. Nothing is uploaded unless you turn on the optional end-to-end encrypted sync, and the Mac app is a one-time purchase.

Dash, Day One and Journey

Checked against each vendor’s own pages on 8 September 2026.

Feature	Day One	Journey
Entries encrypted so the vendor cannot read them		Optional
Works without an account
Offline by default, nothing uploaded
Lock individual entries on the device
Buy once, no subscription needed	Free tier	Partial
Duress password and self-destructing entries
Open source

A diary nobody else can open. Dash is $14.99 once on Mac, free on iPhone.

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Why privacy matters for journaling

Your thoughts are not data points. Fears, plans, half-formed ideas: a company has no business analysing them, and a journal that lives on a server invites exactly that.
Nobody reads over your shoulder. Cloud journals sit on servers that other people can, in principle, reach. Entries that exist only on your device, encrypted with a password only you know, do not.
Honesty needs a closed door. The value of a journal comes from writing what you would not say aloud. That only works when you are certain nobody else will read it.

What Dash gives a diary

AES-256-GCM on any entry. Lock it and it is unreadable without your password; the key is derived with PBKDF2-SHA256 at 600,000 iterations and never leaves the device.
Touch ID and Face ID. Open locked entries, or the whole app, with a fingerprint or your face. Auto-lock after 1, 5, 15 or 30 minutes, or instantly with Cmd+Shift+L.
Offline by default. Write on a plane, in a field, in a hospital waiting room. Sync is optional and end-to-end encrypted when you want it.
A duress password that opens a decoy set of entries, and self-destructing notes for the thought you want to write down and let go of.
Dates, folders, tags and links. One page per day, tags for the recurring themes, [[links]] that connect an entry to the day something began.
Four themes and a focus mode, including a dark Night theme for writing late.

What a private journal is for

Settling the mind. Putting a worry on the page is often enough to shrink it.
Noticing patterns. Tags and search show you what keeps coming back.
Writing without an audience. Drafts, letters never sent, the things you are working out.
Keeping a record. Photos and PDFs attach to an entry and stay with it, on your device.

One purchase. Two platforms. Sync only if you want it.

You never need a subscription to take notes.

Get Dashthe same app, on both platforms

Mac

iPhone

Freeon the App Store

No purchase, no trial, no account

Same encryption, Face IDWorks fully offlineNo account to makeFree on the web too

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OptionalAdd Dash Sync

Keeps Mac, iPhone, iPad and web in step, encrypted on your device first. Dash works completely without it — notes, encryption and everything else.

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or $47.99 / year · 7-day trial

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Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

How Dash encrypts notesAES-256-GCM and key derivation, explained in plain language.App lockLock the whole journal behind Touch ID or Face ID, with auto-lock timers.Duress passwordA second password that opens decoy entries instead of the real ones.

Start your encrypted diary today.

$14.99 once on Mac. Free on iPhone.

Get Dash for Mac App Store